The first formally approved batch of the COVID-19 vaccine to reach Latin America was held at a VIP assembly ceremony on Wednesday: flags, television cameras and dignitaries lined up along the track.
A DHL flight landed at Mexico City’s international airport, and the ground team unloaded the first batches of deep-frozen vaccines produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
“Today is the beginning of the end of this pandemic,” said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, one of the authorities who came to see the plane land.
Mexico expects to receive 1.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech product by the end of January.
First doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Mexico arriving at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Mexico [Edgard Garrido/Reuters]
The first vaccines were to be given to health professionals in Mexico City and in Saltillo city, starting on Thursday.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would push for the vaccine to be used in other areas, as officials seek to reach employees at nearly 1,000 hospitals that treat coronavirus patients across the country.
Elderly and people with chronic illnesses should be next in line to receive vaccines.
Mexico recorded a total of 1.3 million COVID-19 infections and 119,495 disease-related deaths, the fourth highest number of deaths worldwide.
Mexican Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard, on the right, and Health Minister Jorge Carlos Alcocer, on the left, carrying documents after the arrival of the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Mexico [Edgard Garrido/Reuters]
Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine are scheduled to reach some other countries in Latin America this week and the vaccine candidates from other producers have already arrived in Brazil and some other countries awaiting formal approval by their health authorities.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health expects to have at least 150 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 available in the first half of 2021, with a third or more coming from a Chinese company.
Arnaldo Medeiros, a health ministry official, said at a congressional hearing on Tuesday that an initial agreement to acquire 46 million doses of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech could soon be expanded to 100 million doses.
The Butantan Institute, of the government of the state of São Paulo, is due to present data on Wednesday of its last stage of testing the Sinovac vaccine, called CoronaVac, which has already started to roll out its filling and finishing production line.
President Jair Bolsonaro despised the vaccine, citing doubts about its “origin” and exchanging barbs with São Paulo’s governor, João Doria, a political rival. But the Ministry of Health is eager to secure supplies, as the global vaccine race heats up.
The federal government’s Fiocruz biomedical center is also expected to start filling and finishing the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming months, giving the first injections on February 8. The ministry expects 104 million doses by June, officials said.
Separately, the ministry is in negotiations with Pfizer to receive eight million doses of the vaccine it developed with BioNTech in Germany in the first half of 2021.
No COVID-19 vaccine has yet been approved for use in Brazil.
Brazilian Ministry of Health expects to have at least 150 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 available in the first half of 2021, with a third or more coming from a Chinese company [Pilar Olivares/Reuters]
Also on Wednesday, Argentina granted emergency approval for the use of the Russian vaccine Sputnik COVID-19, the health ministry said in a statement, making it the third country after Russia and Belarus to approve the vaccine.
The first doses of Sputnik should arrive in Argentina in the next few days, officials from both countries said. About 42,254 people have died in Argentina from COVID-19 so far, official data show.
“The product has an acceptable risk-benefit ratio,” said a statement from the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology of Argentina, or ANMAT.
Some Western scientists have raised concerns about the speed with which Russia has been working, giving the regulatory endorsement for its vaccines and launching large-scale vaccines before the full tests to test the safety and effectiveness of Sputnik V have been completed. Russia says the criticisms are unfounded.
Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, told Reuters that Argentina will receive 300,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccine on Thursday. He said it was one of the biggest shipments of any vaccine to Latin America.
“This is a very important step. We believe this is great news for Christmas in Argentina. We should all try to help each other, under the circumstances,” said Dmitriev.
There was a high demand for Sputnik from other Latin American countries, said Dmitriev, adding that he expects more news about Sputnik deliveries in the region in January.